pennyspoetryfandomcom-20200214-history
Christopher Fry
] | birth_place = Bristol, England | death_date = June | death_place = Chichester, England, | occupation = Playwright, Screenwriter, Translator, and Critic | nationality = English | spouse = Phyllis Marjorie Hart Fry (1936-1987) | children = | period = | genre = | subject = | religion = Church of England | movement = | notableworks = The Lady's Not for Burning | partner = | awards = Benson Medal }} Christopher Fry (18 December 1907 - 30 June 2005) was an English playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, notably The Lady's Not for Burning, which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s. Life Youth Fry was born as Arthur Hammond Harris in Bristol, the son of Charles John Harris, a master builder who retired early to work full-time as a licensed Lay Reader in the Church of England, and his wife Emma Marguerite Fry Hammond Harris.New York Times obituary of Christopher Fry While still young, he took his mother’s maiden name because, on very tenuous grounds, he believed her to be related to the 19th-century Quaker prison reformer Elizabeth Fry.The Times obituary He adopted Elizabeth Fry's faith, and became a Quaker. After attending Bedford Modern School, where he wrote amateur plays, he became a schoolteacher, working at the Bedford Froebel Kindergarten and Hazelwood School in Limpsfield, Surrey. In the 1920s he met the writer Robert Gittings, who became a lifelong friend.Tolley, G., Gittings, Robert William Victor (1911–1992) in ODNB online (subscription required), accessed 10 August 2008 Career Fry gave up his school career in 1932 to found the Tunbridge Wells Repertory Players, which he ran for three years, directing the English premiere of George Bernard Shaw’s Village Wooing in 1934. As a curtain raiser, he put on a revised version of a show he wrote when he was a schoolboy called The Peregrines. He also wrote the music for She Shall Have Music in 1935. His play about Dr Thomas John Barnardo, the founder of children’s homes, toured in a fund-raising amateur production in 1935 and 1936, including in its cast a young Deborah Kerr. His professional career began to take off when he was commissioned by the vicar of Steyning, West Sussex to write a play celebrating the local saint, Cuthman of Steyning, which became The Boy With A Cart in 1938. It would be put on professionally in 1950 with young Richard Burton and it would be his first starring role. Tewkesbury Abbey commissioned his next play, The Tower, written in 1939, which was seen by the poet T. S. Eliot, who became a friend and is often cited as an influence. In 1939 Fry also became artistic director of Oxford Playhouse. As a pacifist, he was a conscientious objector during World War II, and served in the Non-Combatant Corps; for part of the time he cleaned London's sewers. After the Second World War he wrote a comedy, A Phoenix Too Frequent, which was produced at the Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate, London, in 1946, starring Paul Scofield. The show is a comedy that is based upon Petronius's tale of the Ephesian widow, the false heroics of Dynamene's mourning of her husband in his tomb, and her reawakening to the joy of life by a handsome officer who enters the tomb to rest on a course of duty. The Firstborn was produced at the Oxford Playhouse in 1948. The plot is that of Egypt in the throes of a threatening conflict between master and slave, with Moses denouncing his privileges as an Egyptian-reared soldier and finding new responsibility as a leader of his people. The play was produced by actress Katharine Cornell and featured two songs especially written for the play by Leonard Bernstein. In 1948 he wrote a commission for the Canterbury Festival, Thor, With Angels. Major works Fry was then commissioned to write a play by Alec Clunes, manager of the Arts Theatre in London. The result, The Lady's Not for Burning, was first performed there in 1948, directed by the actor Jack Hawkins. Due to its success, it transferred to the West End for a nine-month run, starring John Gielgud and featuring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom among the cast. It was presented on Broadway in 1950, again with Burton. The play marked a revival in popularity for poetic drama, most notably espoused by T. S. Eliot. It is the most performed of all his plays and inspired British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to declaim, “You turn if you want to — the lady’s not for turning,” at the Conservative Party conference in 1980.Mrs Thatcher quotation in The Penguin Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Quotations, edited by JM and MJ Cohen, (Viking, 1993) In 1950 Fry adapted a translation of Jean Anouilh’s Invitation to the Castle as Ring Round the Moon for director Peter Brook. He also wrote Venus Observed, which was produced at the St James's Theatre by Laurence Olivier. A Sleep Of Prisoners followed in 1951, first performed at St Thomas' church in Regent Street, London, in 1951 and later touring with Denholm Elliott and Stanley Baker. The Dark is Light Enough, a winter play starring Katharine Cornell and Edith Evans in 1954, was third in a quartet of "seasonal" plays, featured incidental music written by Leonard Bernstein.Mosel, "Leading Lady: The World and Theatre of Katharine Cornell The production also featured Tyrone Power, Lorne Greene and Marian Winters. Christopher Plummer had an understudy role that he wrote about in his memoir. This play followed the springtime of The Lady’s Not For Burning and the autumnal Venus Observed. The quartet was completed in 1970 with A Yard Of Sun, representing summer. His next plays were translations from French dramatists: The Lark, an adaptation of Jean Anouilh’s'' L'Alouette (The Lark), in 1955; ''Tiger At The Gates, based on Jean Giraudoux’s La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu, also in 1955; Duel of Angels, adapted from Giraudoux's Pour Lucrèce, in 1960; and Judith, also by Giraudoux, in 1962. Although Fry lived until 2005, his poetic style of drama began to fall out of fashion with the advent of the Angry Young Men of British theatre in the 1950s. Despite working mainly for the cinema in the 1960s, he continued to write plays, including Curtmantle for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962, and A Yard of Sun – the fourth in his seasonal quartet – at the Nottingham Playhouse in 1970. Curtmantle''s (1962) plot deals with Henry II of England and his conflict with Thomas Becket. ''A Yard of Sun (1970) is set just after World War II at the time of the famous annual horse race Palio di Siena in the streets of Siena. After the success of his post-war plays Fry bought Trebinshwn, a fine Regency house in Breconshire. When living there he used to walk over the hill behind the house, the Allt, to Llansantffraed church, where the 17th century poet Henry Vaughan is buried,C. Fry, Death is a Kind of Love and Vaughan's poetry was a strong influence on him. In later life Fry lived in the village of East Dean in West Sussex,Interview with Christopher Fry and died, from natural causes, in Chichester in 2005. His wife, Phyllis, whom he married in 1936, died in 1987. He was survived by their son, Tam. During the next ten years he concentrated on further translations, including Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac which were produced at the Chichester Festival Theatre.Article on theatre history website Rogues and Vagabonds In 1986 he wrote One Thing More, a play about the 7th century Northumbrian monk Caedmon who was suddenly given the gift of composing song; it was first performed in Chelmsford Cathedral and then broadcast on the BBC, with further productions in London and Oxford. His last play, A Ringing Of Bells, was commissioned by his old school, Bedford Modern School, and performed there in 2000. The following year, a new production was performed at the National Theatre. Quotes Recognition Revivals Revivals of his plays include a staged reading of The Lady's Not For Burning at the Royal National Theatre in 2001 as one of the 100 best plays of the 20th century, with actors Alex Jennings, Prunella Scales and Samuel West. West went on to produce The Lady’s Not For Burning at Chichester Festival Theatre's Minerva Theatre in 2002 with Nancy Carroll and Benjamin Whitrow. In 2007, it was performed in a new production at the Finborough Theatre, London. Ring Round The Moon was revived at the Theatre Royal Haymarket 1967-68. starring John Standing and Angela Thorne. In 2008 it was revived again, directed by Sean Mathias, once again starring Angela Thorne, graduating from the role of young Diana to the wheelchair-using Madame Desmortes. Other cast members included JJ Feild, Joanna David, Belinda Lang, John Ramm and Leigh Lawson.Stage review of the Playhouse Theatre 2008 revival of Ring Round the Moon http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/19894/ring-round-the-moon Film and TV writing Beginning in the 1950s, many of Fry's plays were adapted for the screen, mainly television. One of the most recent was The Lady’s Not For Burning for Yorkshire TV, starring Kenneth Branagh, in 1987. In 1954, he collaborated with John Cannan on a screenplay for a film version of John Gay’s The Beggar's Opera, for director Peter Brook, starring Laurence Olivier. He was also one of the writers of the classic 1959 film, Ben-Hur, directed by William Wyler. But he was uncredited for his efforts on the epic, as was Gore Vidal. The sole writing credit and Academy Award nomination instead went to Karl Tunberg. He collaborated on other screenplays including Barabbas, which starred Anthony Quinn in 1961, and The Bible: In the Beginning, directed by John Huston, in 1966. Other screenplays include the documentary The Queen Is Crowned (1953). His television movie scripts are The Canary (1950), The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1968), The Brontës of Haworth (1973), The Best of Enemies (1976), Sister Dora (1977), and Star Over Bethlehem (1981). Awards *1948 Shaw Prize Fund for The Lady's Not for Burning *1951 William Foyle Poetry Prize for Venus Observed *1951 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for The Lady's Not for Burning' *1952 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Venus Observed *1956 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for The Tiger At The Gates *1956 Tony Award nomination for The Tiger At The Gates *1962 Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry *1962 Heinemann Award, Royal Society of Literature for Curmantle *1966 Doctor of Arts from Manchester Metropolitan University *1971 Writers Guild Best British Television Dramatization award nomination for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall *1987 Doctor of Letters from Oxford University *1988 Honorary Fellow of Manchester Metropolitan University *1994 Doctor of Letters from De Montfort University *1994 Doctor of Letters from University of Sussex *2000 Benson Medal Fellow and Recipient Publications Plays * Open Door. Hertford, UK: Dr. Bernardo's Homes, 19365. * The Boy With a Cart: Cuthman, Saint of Sussex: A play. London: Frederick Muller, 1939. * Thursday's Child (1939), music by Martin Shaw * A Phoenix Too Frequent: A comedy. London: Hollis & Carter, 1946; London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1946. * The Lady's Not for Burning: A comedy. London: Oxford University Press, 1948; London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1949. * Thor, With Angels: A play. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1949. * The Firstborn': A play in three acts. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1949. * Venus Observed: A play. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1950. * A Winter's Tale (1951) music by Fry with arrangements by Leslie Bridgewater * A Sleep of Prisoners: A play. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1951. * The Dark is Light Enough: A winter comedy. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1954. * Crown of the Year: A cantata (music by Michael Tippett). London: Schott, 1958. * Curtmantle: A play. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1961. * Peer Gynt: A comedy in five acts (based on Johan Fillinger's translation of Henrik Ibsen's play). London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1970. * A Yard of Sun: A summer comedy. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1970. * One Thing More; or, Caedmon construed). London: Kings College London, 1986; New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1986. (1986) * A Ringing of Bells: A conversational fantasy. London: Samuel French, 2000. Non-fiction *''An Experience of Critics, and The approach to dramatic criticism'' (with I. Brown, A. Dent, J.C. Trewin, H. Hobson, E. Keown, T.C. Worsley, P. Hope-Wallace W.A. Darlington; illustrated by Ronald Searle). London: Perpetua, 1952; London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1952. *''Can You Find Me: A family history''. . Oxford, UK, & New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. *''The Early Days''. London: Society for Theatre Research, 1997. Juvenile *''The Boat that Mooed'' (illustrated by Leonard Weisgard). New York: Macmillan, 1965. Collected editions *''Selected Plays''. Oxford, UK, & New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. *''Plays''. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1969. *''Plays''. (3 volumes), London: Oberon, 2007. Translated *Jean Anoilh, The Lark. London: Samuel French, 1956. *Jean Giraudoux, Tiger At The Gates (adapted from (La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu). London: Methuen, 1955; New York: Oxford University Press, 1955. *Jean Giraudoux Duel of Angels (adapted from Pour Lucrèce). London: Methuen, 1958; New York: Oxford University Press, 1958. *Jean Giraudoux, Judith. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1963. Jean Giraudoux, Three Plays. (Judith, Tiger at the gates, Duel of angels). London: Methuen, 1963; New York: Oxford University Press, 1963. *Colette, The Boy and the Magic (adapted from Lénfant et les sortileges). London: Dennis Dobson, 1964; New York: Putnam, 1964. *Jean Anouilh, Ring Round the Moon: A charade with music (adapted from L'Invitation au Château). London: Samuel French, 1976; New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1977. *Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac: An heroic comedy in five acts. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1975. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Christopher Fry, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Aug. 17, 2014. See also *List of English-language playwrights References External links ;Poems *"A Sleep of Prisoners" ;About *Christopher Fry in the Encyclopædia Britannica *Christopher Fry (1907-2005) at the British Theatre Guide * Christopher Fry at Rogues and Vagabonds * [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/04/db0402.xml Christopher Fry] obituary from The Telegraph * [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1520502,00.html Christopher Fry] obituary from The Guardian * [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/theater/05fry.html Christopher Fry] New York Times obituary * [http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsF/fry-christopher.html Christopher Fry] Broadway productions of his plays * ;Etc. * Christopher Fry Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin Category:1907 births Category:2005 deaths Category:Old Bedford Modernians Category:English dramatists and playwrights Category:Modernist drama, theatre and performance Category:English Quakers Category:English pacifists Category:British conscientious objectors Category:English conscientious objectors Category:Christian humanists Category:English poets Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets